Telangana Assembly Elections: How K Chandrashekhar Rao's BRS Swept The Polls In 2018

KCR's welfare schemes, anger against Congress' alliance with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the sentiment for Telangana statehood were believed to be the reasons for BRS' win in 2018

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 2 December 2023 9:38 am

Telangana Assembly polls: KCR votes

Bharat Rashtra Samithi supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is confident of scoring a hattrick victory in the 2023 Telangana assembly elections, even as most exit polls for the state predicted an edge to Congress over BRS. Asserting confidence for his win, KCR has called for a cabinet meeting on December 4, a day after the announcement of results.

The BRS, which was earlier Telangana Rashtra Samithi, has been in power for almost 10 years, ever since the formation of a separate state of Telangana in 2014. In the 2018 assembly elections, many exit polls had predicted the pink party's emphatic victory. But it was the scale at which the victory was achieved that suprised many. TRS won 63 seats in 2014 and then 88 seats in 2018 in the 119-member assembly.

KCR's welfare schemes for the poor, farmers and women, anger against Congress' alliance with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the sentiment for Telangana statehood were believed to be the reasons for the party's win. But will KCR be able to come to power for a third time amid a wave of anti-incumbency and disillusionment with the existing welfare schemes?

The results will be declared on December 3. Ahead of this, here is a recap of how 2018 assembly elections played out in the state.

Telangana assembly election results of 2018

In 2018, the KCR-led government called for elections more than nine months ahead of schedule, breaking the state’s synchronicity with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections -- which was considered as one of the major reasons for KCR's party sweeping the polls in the state trumping the TDP- Congress alliance.

TRS won 88 seats in the 119-member assembly giving Chief Mnister K Chandrasekhar Rao a landslide majority. The TDP-Congress alliance got 21 seats in total (Congress 19 + TDP 2). The AIMIM won the usual seven seats and the BJP won just one seat.

KCR's track record of never losing an election since 1985 remained intact as he was also re-elected from the Gajwel Assembly constituency with a huge margin of over 50,000 votes.

Here is a break-up of the vote share: